REMINISCENCES OF MACFORMAT
I bought my first Mac, an SE/30, back in April 1993 from a man in Orpington. Travelling back to Birmingham on the train, clutching my precious cargo, I bought a magazine for entertainment – MacFormat. The first issue for you, the first Mac for me, and also the first Mac magazine that I ever bought.
That issue kept me entertained for hours – Lemmings was on the cover disk! I bought the full version on the strength of that demo. £39, I think it cost!
I still have that SE/30 on my desk – in fact, I’m writing this email on it, although it will be sent via a Mac Pro (the old SE/30 can’t handle modern email systems). Since then though, I’ve become a software developer – and it’s a tough business these days. The world is awash with bad software, and it’s nigh on impossible for the good stuff to struggle to the surface, to get noticed – and hence get sales. Looking at that old MacFormat, software prices have dropped to junk levels – it seems that few people value software anymore, they expect it to be free.
My most popular app, MailRaider Pro, sells on its own merits – I just about make enough money for continued development to be worthwhile. Remarkably, it does so without ever having been reviewed by a magazine. My latest app, an addictive game for iOS and macOS, has taken over a year of my life to
finish – and, over the past three months, has made me less than seven quid. Which is a pity, because it’s a damn good game. If you still had a cover disk, I’d make you a demo version! by PA S CAL HARI S
ALEX SAYS… Thanks for sharing your memories Pascal, I’m sure it will stir a few fond memories of getting their first Mac amongst other readers of
MacFormat. How things get noticed on the App Store is one of those strange quirks of fate that can often not feel fair at all. Quite often it’s a combination of chance and timeliness. However, it’s worth remembering the amazing opportunity that the App Store presents and the app economy it created. See my feature on page 85 for details of the way it changed the world.
successful support
So, knowing it was a risk, I bought a mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13-inch from an auction, replaced the cracked screen, installed a 1TB hard drive and 16GB of RAM . The result? A terrific laptop – fast as you like and my outlay was less than £550. A bargain!
Now updated to Sierra, the sole remaining issue was Time Machine – it just wouldn’t work. Self-help got me nowhere so eventually I went to Apple Support, expecting “No, not any more, out of warranty”. Expecting to be told to go away, my case was escalated to advanced support, and solved after a couple of tries (by removing a corrupted document). So, I am really writing to thank the Apple Support team (and Stephanie B in particular). Great job, I’m a happy camper. by A n dy W i lso n
GRAHAM says… Always nice to hear a story of good customer support from Apple, Andy. The strong after-sales support is one of the main reasons that people go the Apple route.